PROJECT LOG Manjkls1 Budget Gaming Build

A friend asked me to build him a budget gaming rig that would look awesome and game even better. Naturally I accepted as this is what we love to do. His original budget was $800 but after coming up with a few price lists I felt he would be better served at the $850 price point. Without batting an eye he coughed up another $100 bill raising the budget to $900. I know Manjkls1 is on a budget (aren't we all) so I'll still try to keep it as close to the $800-850 price range but lets see where we end up.

We agreed on a parts list and price so I did a little more research and found I needed to make a trip to the local MicroCenter to pick up a late Gen MoBo and CPU. With the heavy discounted sale and the CPU/Mobo combo discount I saved him another $65. So here is where we will begin.

i5-4590 w/ HSF Original budget price $189.99 from Super Biiz
Actual price = $129.99 +tax (After sale price and Combo discount)
(*note: this CPU is normally not allowed for the combo discount for some reason so I had to apply a little Blaylock charm to the store manager. She agreed naturally. )

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ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer ATX MoBo Original budget price $ 104.99 + Shipping from Newegg
Actual price = $99.19 +tax
(They showed 1 in stock as a discontinued item so I didn't hesitate and went straight to the store hoping to snag it and get the combo discount. The sales lady handed me the Z97X model and I questioned it as it's a $150 board and she said it was the correct one. While I was waiting for the CPU to be delivered to the sales counter I asked the store manager to confirm that it was the correct one which she did. I wasn't surprised when it rang-up as $150 and quickly asked for the manager as it was advertized as $99.
TL;DR they found the correct one in the back but for my troubles agreed to give me the CPU combo discount even though they didn't need to. Maybe the Blaylock charm didn't have as much to do with it as I hoped but hey, either way right?)

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I know the red and black theme have been done to death, but the Crimson red of the Fatal1ty boards are just so beautiful, well, I never get tired of it. Also while discussing this build with other OCF members the question of why a Z97 board with a non-K CPU came up. In truth, Manjkls1 is not an overclocker (yet) but to go to an H97 board with the same features and theme as this one would actually cost more.

So this is the starting point. The foundation to a great budget gaming rig has been established. Stay tuned for the next update which should be coming in a few days as parts start rolling off the delivery trucks.

Serial Numbers have been obscured to protect Manjkls1's RMA potential

Blaylock said:

(*note: this CPU is normally not allowed for the combo discount for some reason so I had to apply a little Blaylock charm to the store manager. She agreed naturally.

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I feel like this was more of a "look woman, I'm the Predator" conversation.

Hahaha Let's just say we're all better off it didn't have to come to that. The truth is I was already within the budget so I had the option to walk away and order online costing them a sale. As it turns out, Manjkls1 just gained $65 to his budget. Oh and if he's reading this, I have a new surprise for you. I've converted that saving into more goodness.

Nice find on the board!

Following because I like budget builds .

Sub'd

Good News and Bad News

First the good news. FedEx showed up today with the case. We chose the Rosewill GUNGNIR from Newegg for $59.99 (Available at Amazon for the same price). I've never built in a Rosewill case but heard they are a great budget case, so we decided to give them a shot.

Now for the bad news. It's going back on the truck in the morning. Not for anything Rosewill did I should mention. It was damaged in shipping. So, as an optimist, here is the silver lining. When I called Rosewill to see if I could just get some replacement feet dropped in the mail I found out they don't carry any replacement parts but offered a full RMA. Within 5 mins from the time the phone started to ring I was talking to an American CS rep and had an RMA number being Emailed to me. 5 Minutes folks. That's damn impressive CS. Look these things happen sometimes.

I've already contacted Manjkls1 and he understands the situation so there'll be no surprises in the end. Hopefully tomorrows shipment will go smoother. Also, I'm contemplating doing a full front page review on this case since OCF has not reviewed any Rosewill cases to my knowledge. From initial looks and feel it seems like a very good case. Keep an eye on the front page next month.

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Sorry about the over exposure in the last pic. These are all raw photos and not edited yet.

May Contain Awesome

I love coming home to see this waiting for me. Yes it May contain Awsome.

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So the bulk of the components are in from Newegg. Here's a list of where we're at now.


Cooler Master Hyper 212x - 39.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws X 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1866 CL9 - 39.99

EVGA 500 B1 80+ BRONZE 500W PSU - 44.99

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 Windforce OC 6GB Video Card - 269.99

And finally I spent that $60 that was saved at micro center to get an OS M.2 SSD

Plextor M7V M.2 2280 256GB OS Drive - 69.99

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Still waiting on a few items plus the original budget was increased another $50 to include a BluRay ODD. So the full system budget is now $900-950. Still very do-able.

Looks like that M.2 drive is using a SATA controller. It'll work with the board, but won't be faster than any other SATA III SSD.

I believe you are correct but will still be a solid improvement over standard HDD.

Update time!

Actually, nothing to see here. I have parts in their box's and still waiting on others. The only new news is Rosewill has approved the RMA of the case and the new one should be in Tuesday or Wednesday.


I hate the long waits. Zzzzzzzzz

that will make a fine little build, the 1060's are actually quite impressive, for the wattage they punch right with the 980's.
if that board has m.2 sata like my extreme 9 boards, the lanes may go straight to the cpu, crystaldisk scores it better than the connector going through the sata controller.

I built a PC for my brother using that gtx 1060... I gotta say, i was INCREDIBLY impressed with it overall. This should pack quite a punch for a "budget" build


edit: actually that whole build is very similar to what I got him, I went with an i3 though. He can upgrade at his leisure eventually. Im curious what kinda numbers you get out of it, will you be benchmarking it? Wouldn't mind getting a direct a/b result

Thanks for the replies.

I do plan to do some benchmarking on this like I do all my builds but the focus will be stability. This is not intended as an overclock build but has the core components to do so if he decides to upgrade the CPU in the future. Also I wont be applying many tweaks to the benchmarks either so HWBot comparisons will likely be skewed.

This also depends on how anxious Manjkls1 is to pick up his rig. LOL

EDIT: The Bluray ODD and HDD showed up over the weekend (sorry no pics). So now we're just waiting on the case to return from RMA which should be here by mid-week. It's in the "gentle" hands of FEDEX as I type. (Fingers Crossed!)

Major Update!!!!

The case has made it back from RMA and Rosewill was kind enough to send out a completely new case. Kudos to the customer service there. It's always great when CS works out the way you hope and I feel we don't hear enough of the good stories.

OK, enough of my rambling. Here are some pics of the assembly process. (Note: these are all raw images and not doctored so the lighting in some pics looks better than others )

Fitment check determined that the standoffs needed to be re-arranged. The Z97 Killer board is more narrow than the full ATX boards so the 3 far right standoffs aren't used. Also there is a standoff that needed to be added at the left just under the first PCIe slot.
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From the back we see that massive CPU cooler opening. I shouldn't have any trouble once I get to updating the cooler.
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Here is the PSU that was decided on. It's an EVGA 500W B1 series. This will be more than enough for this build and the price was just right. Plus it's hard to go wrong with EVGA. A quick check at Jonnyguru.com shows that it's a good budget unit that should perform well. OCF Senior member Oklahoma_Wolf graded it an 8.4/10.
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This case can only mount the PSU with the fan down. It would be nice if it had the option to flip, but to be honest this is the orientation it should be since there is a filtered intake for it.
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...aaaaand my OCD is killing me. I really want to flip the sticker but a quick check on the EVGA warranty and it would void it. Looks like it stays. :/
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The final image for today is on the cable routing for this case. Rosewill took a new approach that I've never seen and I kinda like it. The MB tray is offset from the ODD tray about 1" at the 20+4 pin MB connector and about .75" for the remainder. This makes the cable management very neat and tidy andI think it looks nicer than a bunch of cut-outs with rubber grommets. What do you think? There will be more images of this in later updates.
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I agree, I like the offset much more. That was the main reason I went with a big tube res aesthetically, to hide those grommets.

Looks like a good start!

Why not go with a semi modular PSU like the Corsair CX550M? The extra $10 would've been well spent for lack of cable management nightmares.

Vishera said:

Why not go with a semi modular PSU like the Corsair CX550M? The extra $10 would've been well spent for lack of cable management nightmares.

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Great question Vishera. There are 2 reasons I chose the EVGA 500B over the Corsair CX550M. First and for most was build quality. Oklahoma_Wolf also reviewed this series (though it was the 750W unit) and it scored noticeably lower than the 500B. Only a 7.1/10 vs. 8.4/10. The other reason was obviously price. I was able to snag the EVGA For $45 and the Corsair is $60. I can't justify a $15 increase for a lower quality unit.

I'm not at all against Corsair as I run the RM850 in my daily rig. The 5 year warranty that Corsair offers would be nice compared to 3 years for the EVGA. As far as the semi modular and the cable management nightmare you speak of, well, you see that open space just left of the power supply? That's going to be the home of the 1 molex cable that is not being used, hardly a nightmare.

I'd also like to mention prior to buying this case I read and watched some reviews on this case. There aren't many out there and if time allows I'd like to write one up for it. Anyhow, one video review in particular dogged this case pretty hard claiming how difficult it is to work in and how hard it is to mount the PSU. He stated that if you use a modular or semi modular PSU you have to connect to the PSU prior to mounting as the PSU cover is not removable in this case. While it might be true if you have a very long PSU, for most of the 150-200mm units I doubt it would be an issue. This small 500W unit mounted with no issues at all, even if it was modular.

Blaylock said:

Great question Vishera. There are 2 reasons I chose the EVGA 500B over the Corsair CX550M. First and for most was build quality. Oklahoma_Wolf also reviewed this series (though it was the 750W unit) and it scored noticeably lower than the 500B. Only a 7.1/10 vs. 8.4/10. The other reason was obviously price. I was able to snag the EVGA For $45 and the Corsair is $60. I can't justify a $15 increase for a lower quality unit.

I'm not at all against Corsair as I run the RM850 in my daily rig. The 5 year warranty that Corsair offers would be nice compared to 3 years for the EVGA. As far as the semi modular and the cable management nightmare you speak of, well, you see that open space just left of the power supply? That's going to be the home of the 1 molex cable that is not being used, hardly a nightmare.

I'd also like to mention prior to buying this case I read and watched some reviews on this case. There aren't many out there and if time allows I'd like to write one up for it. Anyhow, one video review in particular dogged this case pretty hard claiming how difficult it is to work in and how hard it is to mount the PSU. He stated that if you use a modular or semi modular PSU you have to connect to the PSU prior to mounting as the PSU cover is not removable in this case. While it might be true if you have a very long PSU, for most of the 150-200mm units I doubt it would be an issue. This small 500W unit mounted with no issues at all, even if it was modular.

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I wasn't aware of the full utilization of the unit's cables. And really, the CXM unit's of lesser quality?? I have a 500B myself and was going to snag the 550M for my computer as my case is on the smaller side and has ZERO cable management space behind the mobo tray, or anywhere really, but with that bit of information...wow. I also thought about looking at the Fractal Integra M, might have to go that route..

I'm not familiar with those. I'd do some research before buying. A quick search of that turned up some less than impressive results, but definitely read some reviews from reputables like jonnyguru, techspot , and anandtech. Avoid reviews from sites like Amazon, Newegg, and Walmart. Buyers usually review their products after a quick 5 min test, "Yep it works" and post. That's not enough for me.

Last Update until the Final Build reveal.

So the system is built and in stability testing.

In addition to the M.2 SSD for the OS/Gaming drive I've installed a 1TB Hitachi Ultrastar storage drive. The case specs claim there is room for 2x 3.5" HDD's and there are 2 drive trays. However, Rosewill was kind enough to add an additional location unter the drive trays for a total of 3x 3.5" I'm not sure why they chose to not advertise this spot but it is there, there are rubber anti-vibration mounts and enough screws to utilize it too. Also note the ample cable clearance. At any rate here it is.

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So with the build together it was time to do some testing and to confirm my distaste of stock coolers. The tests consisted of P95 blend test and Unigen Heaven extreme while monitoring with HWMonitor. I did two full runs of Heaven which took approximately 8-10 minutes. The results with the stock cooler were horrible and the reason is pretty plain to see when replacing the cooler.

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Removing the stock cooler for the Cooler Master Hyper 212x you can see the the factory TIM does not cover the CPU completely. Yes, it's true you could add your own TIM and achieve much better results, but I believe it should come with it if that was their intention. Just a personal pet peeve I guess.

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So introducing the Cooler master Hyper 212x. It comes with all the mounting hardware for multiple sockets as well as an extra set of clips for a push pull configuration should you choose to go that route(Results show minimal improvement).

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Here are the results with the 212x with cooler master TIM. MAx Core temp 52c in the same time frame. actually after a 1.75 hour P95 only run the Max CPU temp never got above 52C. The 212x is a fantastic budget cooler.

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Keep in mind this is not an overclocked rig so the results are reflecting this as well. As I'm typing this the build is completed and I'm in the process of testing frame rates to include in the finality. I will also post process the pics for the best possible reveal. Stay tuned.